Conventionally, for example, information to be saved is stored in a recording medium, such as a magnetic tape and a DVD, and such a recording medium is stored in a predetermined location to store the information for a long time. Much of the information to be saved for a long time is information that requires strict security management, such as customer information in a company, and for example, to discard the recording medium where the information is recorded, an act, such as mechanically destroying the recording medium before discarding, is performed (for example, see Patent Citation 1).
Incidentally, a recording medium cartridge including a magnetic tape and the like capable of recording a large amount of information is widely used as a thing suitable for long-term storage of information. In general, takeout of such a recording medium cartridge is strictly managed from the viewpoint of the security management, and information leakage caused by illicit takeout of the recording medium cartridge from the storage location is prevented.
For example, the information leakage is also prevented by a method of, for example, recording information in a recording medium of a recording medium cartridge in a state in which reading is possible only by use of a predetermined software-like secret code key.
Furthermore, a so-called RFID (Radio_Frequency_IDentification) tag capable of wirelessly exchanging information is attached to a commodity to be managed so that an act such as managing takeout of the commodity is performed (for example, see Patent Citation 2), and such takeout management using the RFID tag is applied to the prevention of the information leakage.
The prevention of the information leakage using the RFID tag is performed, for example, as follows. First, to each recording medium cartridge in the storage location, a memory and an RFID tag storing identification information for distinguishing a recording medium cartridge from other recording medium cartridge are attached. Then, a security gate, which has a function for communicating with the RFID tags and stores identification information of recording medium cartridges prohibited from being taken out of the storage location, is installed at a gateway of the storage location. When a person carrying a recording medium cartridge passes through the security gate, the security gate queries the RFID tag of the recording medium cartridge carried by the person for an identification number. The security gate generates an alarm when the identification number provided by the RFID tag in response to the query is identification information of a recording medium cartridge prohibited from being taken out of the storage location. The actions by the RFID tags and the security gate prevent the information leakage caused by illicit takeout of recording medium cartridges from the storage location.    Patent Citation 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-234129    Patent Citation 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-288004